Using Minute Papers to Improve Lecture Demonstrations

Minute papers are brief papers written at the end of a lecture in response to one or two questions posed by the instructor. The answers are discussed briefly at the beginning of the next lecture. We used minute papers to follow students' understanding and response to lecture demonstrations in an introductory general chemistry course. An analysis of these minute papers suggest that the following characteristics are important, when using demonstrations as teaching aids. 1) The purpose of a demonstration should be stated as explicitly as possible. 2) Instructors should be explicit about what is happening and what students should be looking for. 3) Demonstrations should be kept as simple as possible, perhaps illustrating one concept. Finally, we note that students believe that the visual component of demonstrations enhances their comprehension of chemistry concepts.